| | | | Called, Loved, Preserved - Jude 1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. Jude 1
Have you ever waited for an important call? I remember years ago I interviewed for my first "real job" with a large international company. I thought the interview went pretty well (believe it or not, we talked more about playing guitar than my qualifications, but that's another story…), and when it ended, the interviewer told me, "We'll call you." For the next few days, every time the phone rang I almost jumped out of my skin… I was anxious! Why? Because that phone call meant way more to me than just a job.
See, if they called me, it meant that I had value to them. If they called me, it meant they wanted me to part of their team. If they called me, it meant security for my future. The call finally came, and I got the job. But looking back, thirty years later, that company is no longer in the telecom business, the plant has closed down, and the job is long gone.
Its funny how much weight we give to the temporal things of this world, when the truth is that one day this world and everything in it will pass away (2 Peter 3:10). The things that are so important to us; value, love and acceptance, security, may be fulfilled by this world, but it's only temporary. But there is a permanent solution: The Lord Jesus Christ. This is the opening message of Jude; We, those who are in Christ, are called, loved, and secure in Christ.
First, we are called by Christ.
...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love. Eph 1:4
In other words, We didn't "find" God; God found us! From eternity past, Christ saw us, knew us, and chose us.
Second, we are LOVED by Christ. The NKJV says "sanctified" but the word is agapaó - meaning we are loved by God.
So we could say "God called us because He loves us!"
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17
Third, Jude states that we're "preserved" in Jesus Christ. The word used is tereo which denotes a continuing action of watching and guarding, keeping one's eye on something. Vines Bible Dictionary states:
"The aorist tense regards the continuous "preservation" of the believer as a single, complete act, without reference to the time occupied in its accomplishment."
In other words we can rest in our absolute security in Jesus Christ.
Friend, I've revived many important calls in my life, but the most important one was the one that came when God reached out and revealed Himself to me, accepted my prayer of repentance, and placed me into the eternal citizenship of the heavenly realm.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Phil 3:20-21
Pastor Clay | | | | | | | |
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